"Dad?"

Hiccup wakes up to someone shaking his shoulder. He rolls over on his side, squinting through the darkness broken only by candlelight.

"Stoick?" Hiccup says. He had insisted they name their firstborn son after his deceased father, and Astrid hadn't hesitated. So, now three-years-old, Stoick the Second looks at his father, almost as if embarrassed.

"What happened?" Hiccup asks.

"There's a troll under the bed, Dad!" Stoick whispers harshly. "I heard it! I think it wants to kill me!"

"Trolls don't kill you," Hiccup says, rolling over to his other side. "They steal your socks."

"I know!" Stoick whispers. "Uncle Gobber told me that they did!" Even though Gobber isn't related to the Haddocks in any way shape or form, he's such a good friend that Stoick always refers to him as "Uncle."

Hiccup mumbles something incoherent in response. He reckons it's about two in the morning. He's exhausted.

"Daaaaaaaad!" Stoick groans. This time, he climbs on top of his father. "The troll's gonna eat me, Dad! You have to get rid of it!"

"Okay, okay, shh, you don't want to wake your mother," Hiccup says hastily. Stoick jumps off him and lets him get up. "Show me where the troll is?"

Stoick nods, and then grabs Hiccup's hand, leading him down the stairwell and to his room. He then hides behind Hiccup, handing him the candle and letting him lead on.

"Where is it?" Hiccup asks. He's still half asleep. He doesn't know where Stoick - a three year old - gets all his energy at two in the morning. That always seems like the time the kid has the most energy, too.

"Under the bed," Stoick says, pointing.

Hiccup leans down, and Stoick cowers behind him.

"I don't see anything," Hiccup says, standing up again. "Maybe you scared it off."

"I'm not scary, Dad!" Stoick says angrily. "I can't even scare Toothless!"

"I can't scare Toothless, Stoick," Hiccup says, patting his son on the head. "Don't worry too much about it. If the troll comes back, come get me, and I'll make sure we get rid of it, okay?"

"...Okay," Stoick says at length.

…

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Stoick?" Hiccup asks. It's only been about ten minutes, and yet Stoick is already back with the candlestick again, along with a frightened expression.

"It came back, Dad!" Stoick whispers. "It's under the bed again!"

"Okay, I'm coming," Hiccup says. He's more awake now; he usually wakes up multiple times in the middle of the night, since Stoick likes (for some reason) waking his father more than he does his mother.

"It's under the bed again," Stoick says, once again hiding behind Hiccup.

Hiccup, by this point, is already wide awake. As he leans down to look under the bed (now for the second time), he decides that the only way to get Stoick to truly believe him when he says that the troll is gone is if he plays along.

So, that's exactly what he does.

"Oh no, Stoick!" Hiccup says. "You're right! There is a troll!"

"No!" Stoick shouts. "Make it go away, Dad! Get rid of it!"

"We need to strategize," Hiccup says, standing up and setting the candle down on the desk. "Find a way to scare the troll off for good."

"Let's!" Stoick agrees happily. "But what if we can't do it!?"

"We'll do it," Hiccup promises. "First off, we need a plan. Let's think for a minute, Stoick. Try and think of all the things trolls are afraid of."

"Um...they...well...what are they afraid of, Dad?" Stoick asks. "Uncle Gobber never actually told us that much!"

"Let's think practically," Hiccup advises. "What's the scariest thing you can think of?"

"Trolls!" Stoick says without hesitation, and then looks pleased with himself afterwards.

"I don't think scaring a troll with a troll will work, son," Hiccup says. "Besides, then we'll have two trolls on our hand."

Stoick's eyes widen. "No!" he cries. "No more trolls!"

"What other things are scary?" Hiccup asks.

"Mom when she's angry," Stoick says.

Although Hiccup has no doubt that Astrid could scare away a troll just by looking at it (no axe or words involved or needed), he really isn't in the mood for waking her up. Besides, she gets especially cranky when she wakes up before the sun's up.

"Something else," Hiccup says.

"Ruffnut and Tuffnut with explosives?" Stoick asks. "We can blow up the troll!" He claps his hands as if it's the greatest discovery since cookies.

"Trolls like explosions," Hiccup says, only because he doesn't want Ruffnut and Tuffnut to do any blowing up, especially in their household.

"Dad!" Stoick groans. "They're not afraid of anything!"

"We'll think of something," Hiccup says hastily. He snaps his fingers. "I've got it!" he announces. He takes the candle off the nightstand, and shines it underneath the bed.

"Whatcha doin', Dad?" Stoick asks.

"Fire!" Hiccup says, waving the candle underneath the bed, careful to avoid anything that could catch fire. "Maybe the trolls are afraid of fire!"

"Hey yeah!" Stoick says. "That's brilliant, Dad!"

A few moments later, Hiccup hands the candle back to Stoick, and the three-year-old sets it back on the table.

"Did it work, Dad?" he asks, hesitating slightly.

Hiccup looks once again, and then stands, a sigh escaping him. "It's still there," he says.

"Dad!" Stoick shouts. "I don't want the troll anymore under my bed, Dad! Do something! Don't let it eat me!"

"I won't let it eat you, Stoick," Hiccup says. "Let's try a new approach. What else do you think trolls can be afraid of? Anything you can think of is good enough, Stoick."

"Vegetables!" Stoick decides. "I hate vegetables, so the trolls must hate it, too!"

"That sounds like a great idea, Stoick!" Hiccup says excitedly, grabbing his son by his shoulders. "You're a genius! A true genius!"

Stoick smiles, but then it fades when he remembers the troll. "Dad…" he says, glancing back at his bed.

"Right," Hiccup says. "Okay, go on and get a carrot."

Stoick nods, leaving for the kitchen, returning an instant later with the vegetable in hand. He gives it to Hiccup, who then proceeds to shout, "TAKE COVER!" as he throws the carrot underneath the bed.

Stoick drops to the floor and crawls forward. "Is it gone now?" he asks.

Hiccup looks back under the bed yet a third time. "Seriously!?" he shouts. "Come on! This is one stubborn troll!" The troll is really beginning to get on his final nerves.

He stops and reminds himself that he is helping Stoick get rid of an imaginary troll. It's nothing to get mad about.

"Okay, Stoick, we have one last chance, but after that, I don't think we'll ever get rid of it," Hiccup says.

"Don't say that, Dad!" Stoick says. "If it doesn't work, we'll have to try something different! We don't have a choice! It can't stay underneath my bed!"

"You're right, Stoick!" Hiccup says. "And that is why I am one-hundred-percent certain that this idea will work."

He rushes towards their living room, and Stoick follows him closely. Hiccup then returns with a small necklace, the chain longer than it should have been, the charm a small stone with nothing significant on it.

"This is an Anti-Troll amulet," Hiccup says, putting it over Stoick's head. "Now, the trolls won't bother you anymore."

Stoick smiles, and then races back to his room to try out his new "Anti-Troll amulet."

"Fear me, all you horrible...um...troll-like TROLLS!" Stoick shouts, waving his amulet around. "I have the anti-troll thingamajigger...flee!" He looks back at Hiccup just as he walks back into the room. "Did it work?" he asks.

"Well," Hiccup says, "why don't you see for yourself?" He smiles and nods, and Stoick steps forward, pausing just slightly before looking under the bed.

He beams. "It works, Dad!" he shouts triumphantly. "The amulet works!"

"See?" Hiccup says. "I told you it would!"

"Now the trolls will never bother me again!" Stoick shouts happily. Then, he frowns again.

"What's wrong?" Hiccup asks.

"Now you don't have one!" Stoick says. "Now the trolls will eat you!"

"No, I'll be fine," Hiccup assures, ruffling Stoick's blonde hair. "The trolls don't stand a chance."

"Will Mom get rid of them if they try to eat you?" Stoick asks.

"You know, Stoick," Hiccup says, "with your Mother around, I don't think a troll would even dare come close."

Stoick nods, but he doesn't look convinced. Instead, he grabs Hiccup's hand and pulls him to his bed. "You will stay with me," he says, his voice leaving no room for arguments. "The amulet will keep us both safe."

Hiccup laughs. "What about your mother?" he asks.

"Trolls won't touch Mom, like you said," Stoick says. "But they might eat you, because you don't have any left socks for them to steal. They will take you instead."

Hiccup, deciding that he can't argue with his son once he has his mind set on something, simply lets him drag him over to the bed. Stoick lays down, and motions for Hiccup to do the same beside him, which he does a moment later.

"Goodnight, Dad," Stoick says.

"'Night, son," Hiccup responds. Within moments, they both drop off to sleep.

And that's exactly how Astrid finds them the next morning. She smiles at the both of them, and then heads off to get a start on the day.

Author's Notes:

I think Hiccup would be a fun Dad. :)

So, to all of you who have read my story "How Not To Meet Your Ally", you know that this is kind of one of the "bridges" that goes in between "How Not To Meet Your Ally" and "How Not To Give Up": a fanfiction I am going to write sometime soon.

If you have not read "How Not To Meet Your Ally", then let me say something real quick:

Hiccup proposes to Astrid. They get married. Stoick is their son (yeah, obviously, I know). That's about all you need to know. You can read it if you want. :)

Also: I did some research, and Vikings tend to get married at a younger age as opposed to an older one. Valka was twenty when she was taken by dragons, meaning she was married to Stoick probably when she was somewhere around eighteen or nineteen.

So, Hiccup was twenty-one when he married Astrid, so he and Astrid are in their mid-twenties (around twenty five or twenty six) in this one-shot.

Yep. Just about sums it up. :)

Until next story! :)

-BeyondTheClouds777